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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Poutine is one of my all time favorite guilty pleasures, the ultimate comfort food, a French Canadian gutbuster made with fries, gravy and cheese curds.

Originating in Quebec, poutine has become so popular throughout Canada that you'll find it everywhere - on the menu of fast food chains (Burger King, KFC, Dairy Queen), gourmet versions at fine restaurants, and even at wedding receptions!

Most Americans have never heard of poutine, and until recently, the closest thing I could find in the Tri-state area were disco fries (with processed cheese sauce - blech). So I would just let my poutine cravings build up until I returned to Canada, occasionally curbing my desire with KFC fries and gravy.

One of my favorite stories about poutine occurred during the 2000 US presidential election, when satirist Rick Mercer, posing as a reporter for the Canadian sketch comedy show, This Hour Has 22 minutes, asked presidential candidate George W. Bush how he felt about a recent endorsement from Canadian Prime Minister Jean "Poutine". His on-air response was, "He understands I want to make sure our relationship with our most important neighbour to the north of us is strong and we'll work closely together". Well, the Prime Minister of Canada at the time was named Jean Chretien, NOT Jean Poutine, so Canadians all had a big chuckle over George W. Bush saying that he planned to work closely with a junk food dish of fried potatoes! Dubya later joked about the incident while visiting Canada, saying that he had "hoped to meet Jean Poutine" during his trip. Check out this hilarious compilation of Rick Mercer "Talking to Americans" if you have time.

During our most recent trip to Vancouver, hubby Kris and I truly outdid ourselves, eating 12 poutines in 12 days! I only planned on trying maybe 5 places, but the poutine recommendations kept on pouring in and I just couldn't say no!

So what exactly makes the best poutine? Since I've never been to Quebec, where poutine was originally invented, I'm obviously not an expert on authentic poutine (9/08/09 update: Just got back from eating a LOT of poutine in Montreal and Drummondville, QC, check it out here) . But like every proud Canadian, I do know the basics of our national dish: the cheese should be cheese curds, so fresh that they squeak; the gravy should be thick and delicious; and the fries should be perfectly cooked and well seasoned. The ingredients should come together like a gastronomic symphony: hot crispy fries oozing with half melted cheese curds covered with lip smacking gravy (excuse me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard). I'm searching for the poutine that I'll dream about every night until I return to Canada. And while I do plan on one day visiting Montreal (poutine capital of the world), my search for the ultimate poutine began in my hometown of Vancouver...

me HUNGRY! VANCOUVER POUTINE SHOWDOWN:12 poutines in 12 daysThe judges:Phyllis (me HUNGRY!) and Hubby Kris Our highly subjective and totally unscientific scoring system:4 categories (10 points per category for a possible total of 40 points):Fries:crispy/soggy? fresh cut/frozen? seasoned properly?Gravy:thick/creamy? any aftertaste? meaty? (whether veggie or meat based, I like my poutine gravy to have a meaty flavor)Cheese:fresh curds? do they squeak?Overall Balance:good ratio of ingredients?(all menu items and prices quoted are as of May 2009, in Canadian dollars)

Great fresh cut fries, cheese curds were creamy and delicious but didn't squeak, gravy was very dark and beefy, but with an aftertaste I associate with a gravy mix, reminding me a bit of bovril. Too much gravy overwhemed the overall dish, and there weren't enough of those delicious cheese curds.Fries: 8.5Gravy:7Cheese:8.0Overall Balance:6.5Total: 30.0

Fritz always comes up in discussions of the best poutine in Vancouver, so I had high expectations. The fresh cut fries were crispy but nothing extraordinary (especially for a place that specializes in fries), light colored gravy reminded me of KFC (not a bad thing), and cheese curds were delicious and creamy but didn't squeak. The serving was small but the proportions were perfect. Vegetarian, Italian (with a tomato meat sauce), smoked meat, and chicken poutine options also available.Fries: 7Gravy:7.5Cheese:8.0Overall Balance:9Total: 31.5

The was the most expensive poutine and the only gourmet contender. Fries were crispy and seasoned perfectly with bits of parsley and truffle, reminding me of the frites I once enjoyed with mussels in Bruges, and delicious dipped in the foie gras mayo (which didn't really taste like foie gras, but was still good). A hearty portion of tender short ribs swimming in a rich gravy made it a full meal. While the shaved parmesan bits were yummy, I had to dock some points because they weren't cheese curds. I was still thinking about this poutine the next day!Fries: 9Gravy:8.5Cheese:6.5Overall Balance:8.5Total: 32.5

Like Fritz, this was another fry place that got a lot of recommendations for its poutine. Fries were adequate but I couldn't distinguish whether they were fresh or frozen. Light creamy gravy like KFC but much saltier, making us super thirsty afterwards. And the cheese curds squeaked (finally!) but were a bit sour (not sure whether this was intentional). The gravy to fry ratio was good, but needed more cheese overall. Several poutine options available including Tunisian (Merguez lamb sausage), Montreal smoked beef, Galvaude (chicken), and chili (meat or veggie).Fries: 7Gravy:7Cheese:7.5Overall Balance:7Total: 28.5

Cafe Salade de Fruits, located in Le Centre Culturel Francophone de Vancouver, proclaims itself "a real French bistro". Very authentic and charming but be prepared to wait for a table at peak times. The fries were definitely freshly cut, smaller and more delicate than most poutines I've tried but they held up nicely to the delicious meaty gravy. The gravy's flavor was really complex, possibly enhanced with some wine. Curds squeaked only a little, but Kris swears I had trouble hearing the squeaks because of the street noise (we sat outside on the sunny patio). Dish was well balanced overall. This was hubby's favorite poutine. My only criticism was that the dish was a teeny bit salty.Fries: 8.5Gravy:8.5Cheese:8.5Overall Balance:9Total: 34.5

Kris suggested we try a fast food poutine so we headed for the foodcourt at the local mall. We chose New York Fries because they had fresh cut fries (isn't it weird that New York Fries have no locations in New York or the US?) Crispy fries, tasty dark beef gravy, but the cheese 'curds' were a soft tangy crumbly cheese (yummy, but no squeaking). Not bad for a fast food option.Fries: 7Gravy:8Cheese:6.5Overall Balance:7.5Total: 29.0

I was a little puzzled when I first walked into Brado Pizza, set up like a food court with falafel/shwarma shop on the left and a bubble tea stand to the right. A smiling Brado stood at the middle counter waiting to greet us. Originally from Montreal, Brado opened up shop 5 years ago to "introduce poutine to Vancouver!" He even offered to teach me all his poutine secrets if I wanted to open up a location of Brado Pizza in New Jersey. Tempting but no. Instead, I tried to get him to share some secrets with me while I waited for my poutine (which is pronouced pu-tzhyn, not poo-teen). "The gravy must be vegetarian, no meat, like cream, not watery, and the cheese must be curds!"

Several versions of poutine are offered at Brado, including smoked meat, Italian, and spicy. And it's the only place I saw that offered pepperoni poutine. While Kris was watching our poutine being made he leaned over and whispered to me that they were using frozen fries. Unlike me, who appreciates any kind of fried potato (including the frozen kind), Kris is a fresh cut fry snob. Fresh or frozen, Brado's fries were uber crispy - every single fry remained crispy, even the ones trapped underneath a giant mound of cheese curds and steaming hot gravy. The generous portion of cheese curds were the freshest and squeakiest we'd had. As a carnivore, I generally prefer meat based gravies, but Brado's gravy was so good that I couldn't tell it was vegetarian. And although I've heard rumors that Brado uses a mix (reportedly St. Hubert), there was absolutely no packaged mix aftertaste. Everything was perfectly seasoned and the proportions were right on. We fought over the remaining fries, mopping up every last drop of gravy. I wanted to declare Brado the winner at this point, but Kris reminded me that we still had 5 more places to go...Fries: 8.5Gravy:8.5Cheese:9.5Overall Balance:9Total: 35.5

We stopped at Zog's Dogs after a day of ziplining in Whistler. The fries were crispy but bland in flavor, the gravy was dark and probably from a mix, with a slight aftertaste. The cheese curds were small but tasty and they squeaked. Overall, it needed more cheese. Canadian, Western, Asian, Italienne, & Euro style poutine also available.Fries: 7.0Gravy:7.0Cheese:7.5Overall Balance:7.5Total: 29.0

Cute retro diner located in a sketchy area of Granville Street. We stopped here because the Templeton's vegetarian poutine was #39 on Vancouver Magazine's 101 Things to Taste Before You Die. Vegetarian mushroom gravy was unique with lots of sage. Fries were crispy and fresh 'chipped'. Instead of cheese curds, white cheddar shreds melted and disappeared into the gravy. Yummy, but the sage and shredded cheddar threw me off a bit. Super friendly service, and the check came with 2 pieces of double bubble gum!Fries: 8.0Gravy:7.5Cheese:6Overall Balance:8.0Total: 29.5

Vera's is a locally based chain known for their giant burgers. Poutine was disappointing - fries were not cooked enough and slightly raw tasting, only one of my stringy cheese curds actually squeaked, and there was too much dark salty gravy (tasted like french onion soup mix).Fries: 6.5Gravy: 7Cheese:7Overall Balance:7Total: 27.5

Known for their Montreal smoked meat. Decided to stop here after seeing an article in a local paper that listed Zako's as competition to Brado Pizza's poutine. Was a little disappointed, the portion was small, with slightly soggy and bland fries. The gravy was good, but there was too much of it and too little of the curds (which squeaked only a little bit because most of them melted).Fries: 6.5Gravy: 8Cheese:7.5Overall Balance:6.5Total: 28.5

Can you believe after eating 11 poutines in as many days, I was still craving more?! I started to panic after we checked in for our flight home. Luckily there was a Burger King conveniently located by our gate. BK fries are always reliable, gravy was tasty but a little salty, mozzarella cheese (but not cheese curds) congealed into a gooey delicious mess. And yes, those are onion rings in the background (oink!).Fries: 7.5Gravy:7.5Cheese:6.5Overall Balance:7.5Total: 29.0

So the winner of the me HUNGRY! Vancouver Poutine Showdown is ... BRADO PIZZA!

Please note: Kris and I were only able to visit each location once, and we certainly acknowledge the fact that restaurants can have bad days sometimes. Vancouver Poutine lovers, I'd love to hear your opinion, so please leave me a comment below.

5/9/2010 update: Another year, another round of poutine... read more of my Vancouver poutine adventures here (includes an updated top 5 list).

Poutine in New Jersey?It didn't take long for my poutine cravings to come back so last weekend we stopped for lunch at Rat's Restaurant, a local restaurant located in the beautiful Grounds for Sculpture. An unlikely place to find poutine, but apparently the chef is well-travelled and likes to include international dishes on the menu. The dish was listed as "poutines" and we were told that the gravy was chicken-based and the cheese was gruyere, not curds. Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers. The $6 "poutines" were actually quite tasty and took care of my craving (at least temporarily):

There are several places online where you can buy squeaky cheese curds from Wisconsin, where locals eat cheese curds like popcorn. I've also seen flavored cheese curds from Yancey's Fancy (upstate NY) at Wegman's.

PHEW! Sorry about the marathon post. I had a lot to say about my favorite snack!

Did I leave out your favorite poutine spot?Disagree with my poutine showdown results?Know where to get some squeaky cheese curds?Suggestions on how I can lose the 5 lbs I gained from eating all that poutine?Leave me a comment below!7/12/09 update: Serious Eats just blogged about this post and it's generating some interesting comments (who knew poutine could cause such controversy?) : http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/07/12-poutines-in-12-days-vancouver-canada.html

I always thought poutine was just fries + cheese + gravy, didn't know that it's absolutely more than that. Gotta look for a place (apart from New York Fries) where serves good poutines, just in case you and Kris land on HK suddenly, haha.

I can't consider poutine weird food - I LOVED it growing up in Ottawa! I remember being shocked, shocked that McDonalds in the US didn't offer it on their menu! 8-)

But it's been so long since I last ate some that I don't know if I could tell good from great. Fortunately, Minnesota and neighboring Wisconsin are chock full of quality cheese curds, high in squeakiness! I will just have to whip up some of this at home.

Lol, this reminds me of something I hope to do at the end of august. I plan to do a falafel crawl in paris and eat about 3 falafels sandwiches from 3 diffreent places (inspired by an article i read on serious eats), but i plan to do one after the other so i can make a really good comparison :). Maybe... we will see how barf-a-roni i get.I definitely never came across poutine before. I am not a gravy person, so I cant guess if I would like it or not. I think all your pictures are really cool, I like how there are so many interpretations of the same thing, because some of them really look different.You and hubbs look like u had an awesome time. You look a bit mischevous lol.

And Animal has a oxtail gravy poutine with cheddar:http://www.animalrestaurant.com/

Let me know if you ever try it!

Kenny: We are greedy little pigs on vacation! Funny that they have New York Fries over there too. Might be difficult to find squeaky cheese curds in HK!

Tangled Noodle: Yeah, poutine's not actually weird, although the idea of a heart-attack on a plate scares people somewhat! Most people I've met in the US have never heard of it and I've been dying to tell everyone about it. Poutine's slowly becoming a trend in NYC, but I'm hoping it invades the rest of the country soon. And how lucky you are to have access to fresh squeaky Wisconsin cheese curds!

Heavenly Housewife: A falafel crawl - YUMMY! And you're going to Paris - soooo jealous!! I think 3 falafel in a row (if you share with hubby) is totally do-able. We could only handle 1 poutine a day otherwise we might have gone into cardiac arrest. And had to save some tummy room for all the other 'showdowns' we were conducting simultaneously (Vietnamese sandwiches - still to come, and of course the spot prawn 24,24,24 bingefest). And haha - us mischievous? Yeah that's the normal look we have on our faces when engaging in various hijinks, but during the poutine showdown we mostly had our serious game faces on (so serious in fact that I think we freaked out some of the proprietors when we were doing the 'judging')

Jackie: Yes, the Backstage Lounge poutine was definitely the 'most photogenic'! And I think you would love poutine, hope you get to try it some day!

Teanna: French fries are my favorite food, and poutine takes them over the edge! Looks like there are some promising French-Canadian run poutine spots opening up soon in NYC so you might not even have to go that far!

from the desk of ginger curry: phyllis, well done on your very thoughtful and highly scientific poutine review. sorry i missed your call today. am in the midst of a very thoughtful and highly scientific review of fish and chips in steveston. urp.

Sorry I am late in commenting - stopped by yesterday but it was before you posted and I was so excited as I knew the curds were featured.

My gosh, the sacrifices you made so that you could find for us the best poutine out there - I salute you!What a great summary and I only wish I could have been judge #3 because that looked like so much fun.

Next thing I know you'll be checking out deepfried Snicker bars. Which may not be a bad thing.

OysterCulture: I was super late on my post - WFW almost didn't happen on time because I was having major technical difficulties (internet service was down!). The poutine crawl was a blast, clogged arteries and muffin top no extra charge! And I think I may have already had a deep fried snickers (along with deep fried oreos) many years ago at some kind of local festival!

At University here in the UK, we had a burger van that would park outside the College bar every night. They sold 'Dirty Chips': a plate of hot chips covered in kebab meat, chili sauce, cheese sauce and bacon. Only consumable when not sober.

They also did the 'Full Monty', which was a triple burger with six slices of cheese, a fried egg, three strips of bacon, onion rings, kebab meat, tater tots and chicken nuggets, all covered in beef chili. You had to eat it with a fork. Once again, sobriety would be a serious deterrent.

I can't say I have cravings for poutine - when I was introduced to them, I was a body-conscious teenager and the mention of cheese curds, gravy and fries (together!) made me queasy. I guess it's one of the things I have to revisit as an adult, and your list is a great starting point!

I'm going to have to give the poutine at Brado a try! I had some the other day at La Brasserie on Davie Street and they used truffle oil too. The fries and gravy were good but unfortunately, they did not use cheese curds. :(

I love poutine! Funny but one of the best poutines can be found at Costco. I'll have to try the Brado next time I'm in town. The parmesan truffle version sounded too sophisticated to be called a poutine but yummy.

I am originally from Montreal and now live in the Vancouver area..great blog. Your reviews are spot on, although I have only visited a few of these places. At home my favorite is to make double fried fresh fries, use the St Hubert sauce and instead of curds, use brie.

Now, if you really want a poutine adventure, go to Au Pied De Cochon in Montreal.

Jessica604: Ultra fresh cheese curds are moist and rubbery, causing them to squeak when you bite into them and they rub against your teeth. They should be served at room temperature which is optimal for squeaking. A package of cheese curds I saw at IGA (in Whistler) said that the squeak could be restored by microwaving them for a few seconds but I haven't tried doing this yet.

Read more about the squeak in the following NY Times article: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3DF1F3BF934A25753C1A9629C8B63 "They squeal, most volubly within a day of their making, we learned, because their binding proteins are still superelastic, like new rubber bands. Gnawing on sample curds on the bus ride home, I marveled at their sound: balloons trying to neck. "

In Portland, OR, the only place to get poutine that I know of is Potato Champion at the food cart mall on SE Hawthorne and 11th. It doesn't disappoint. Firefox doesn't think that poutine is a real word.

i love that your fave was at a pizza place. i've only tried it from a truck in Toronto, and it was heaven. i've been staking out Tpoutine for weeks now. It was reported as open on a bunch of sites and even in Time Out New York, but every time I go by, they're still working on it. They say by the end of July, but I don't know if I trust them. This post reminds me a lot of my trip to San Francisco last week... my ambitious Korean girlfriend and I (who can eat me under the table) tried 5 places by lunch time one day. That's hardcore. So you and your partner are our kind of people.

Justin: Hubby just told me TPoutine was open but when I called no one answered...oh the suspense! We definitely have similar vacation styles - so many places, so little time! And you and your girlfriend are welcome to join us on any future food crawls :)

We just got back from Montreal and picked up some of the freshest squeaky cheese curds. My 3 year old was hogging the entire bag! If ever in Montreal, go to Le Banquise. They have the BEST poutine!! http://www.montrealpoutine.com/reviews.html

Spoon It On: Thanks for your tip on La Banquise - adding it to my Montreal list! I think your 3 year old may become a poutine addict in the near future (good to start them young!) And your costcoholic blog is a trip! p.s. it's all angles and camera tricks

I've been curious to try poutine, but live in Los Angeles. I have found it on the menu of a Minneapolis restaurant/venue called The Triple Rock. whenever I visit, I'm tempted to order it, but would hate to try it and be disappointed. would love to find out if it holds up to Canadian standards!